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Kate Spicer

As the former owner of a postage stamp-sized restaurant column, I was occasionally invited to do the sort of foodie telly that the big-cheese critics don’t generally stoop to — things such as talking about meat pies on GMTV, judging a celebrity cook-off on This Morning and sitting at the critics’ table on Hell’s Kitchen. It was after Hell’s Kitchen last spring that I had my first spat with a celebrity chef. Among other more outrageous things that I can’t repeat, the television chef put it about that “She is not even a proper restaurant critic”, then banned me from his fine-dining restaurants in all the shires of England.

But fair dos to the comedy Frenchman — he was right. I have an understanding and enjoyment of food beyond the rudimentary, but way below the gastronomic standards required to make you a bona fide food buff. I would often spend hours pestering